Cold Call for Merchant Services

How to Cold Call for Merchant Services

Cold calling never ends in the business of marketing merchant services. The practice will always take place. Hence, you should never stop adding new prospects to your pipeline. And if you want to generate more money with credit card processing, now is the time to increase your cold calling efforts. 

This article will provide you with tips on how to maximize cold calling results as well as adopt new email marketing and social media methods. 

How to Step Up Your Cold Calling Skills

Highlighted below are some tips to help you step up your cold calling technique in merchant services:

Differentiate Yourself From Your Competition

You know exactly what the other independent agents in your market will say when they cold call for new clients.

If you want your cold calling to be ordinary, simply say what everyone else is saying. To succeed and be better than average, you must do something distinctive. Find ways to differentiate your messaging to reduce the friction that comes from receiving a cold call.

Research is Everything

This tip might seem quite obvious, however, it is still included on this list due to its significance. When it comes to enhancing your cold calling skills, research is everything.

Before you make any calls, you should be aware of the following:

  • What defines the prospect’s business?
  • What excites the prospect?
  • The issues that this prospect and his or her firm may be experiencing
  • How your product or service would benefit them as a solution.

Have a Thorough Understanding of What You’re Selling

Before you begin cold calling, keep in mind that you cannot offer a product or service that you do not understand. During a cold call, any gaps in understanding will become clear. A lack of enthusiasm or conviction will never result in a successful transaction.

You should be enthusiastic about sharing your products or services. Even on a cold call, excitement can spread. So, skip the automated cold calls; enthusiasm and charisma can help you attract the right clients. 

Prepare and Practice What You’ll Say to the Merchant

The good news is that when you cold call them, most prospects usually say the same thing. This means you can plan ahead of time, practice, and improve. Stop evaluating your sales performance in terms of luck. 

Using the right questions and statements will result in your prospect gaining interest, but using the wrong words will result in a “No.” You can begin to enhance your cold calling skills once you accept personal accountability for your sales performance. Take some time after you leave to scribble down what a prospect said, and then when you’re finished for the day, you could start thinking about a better solution and practice until you get it right.

Know the Right Time and Season to Call Some Businesses

Avoid calling retail businesses a day or two before Black Friday or during the Christmas season. It will be nearly impossible to speak with the right person. You wouldn’t want to call businesses like pizza shops or fast food at lunchtime. You also wouldn’t want to call fine dining restaurants in the evening. This implies that each business type has a time and season when they are extremely busy. Hence, if you want them to listen to you, you must call them at the right time. 

Always Try to Collect Your Prospect’s Information

No one can close every prospect they pitch. Rejection is an inevitable part of the outbound sales process for everyone. That is simple to understand intellectually, yet it might be difficult to genuinely embrace after waves upon waves of denial.

One of the most common mistakes that salespeople make is giving up when they hear “No.” When a prospect says “No,” what they truly mean is, “I don’t know much about you or your program to make an informed decision to your benefit.”

When a prospect says “No,” you must take two steps. Before you give up, you must first try to convince them at least twice. They usually want to test if you are self-assured enough to persist. Second, you should get at least an email address as well as the first name so you can keep in contact. 

Focus on Buying Time

You include cold calling in your sales process because you feel it will boost your outbound sales. However, your priority with each cold call should not be to close the deal – at least not immediately. Rather, your first goal should be to convert the ten seconds you spend with a prospect into ten minutes.

According to LinkedIn, the longer your cold calls last, the more likely they will result in a meeting. So try to keep them on the phone with you by keeping them interested. You do not have to persuade them to buy your stuff straight away.

Grow Your Database By Using Email Marketing and Social Media

You may significantly improve your cold calling outcomes by doing some work in your spare time. One of them is connecting with every prospective client on LinkedIn. You should also send some helpful article links to each prospect maybe once every month. Don’t forget to follow each prospect’s company on social media and engage in their content. At the very least, most businesses today have a Google Maps listing, a Facebook page, and a Twitter account.

Follow Up 

The final step is to follow up and try to close the deal. If you have a prospect who has said “No,” it is a good idea to have a few nice interactions with them before bringing up the subject again. It could be a quick chat on their social media page, a message on LinkedIn after they accept your connection request or an email conversation about a link to the article you sent them. When someone says “No,” and you still believe they are a suitable prospect, make it your aim to engage in positive, two-way dialogues with them over time before trying again.

Final Thoughts

You now have a clear picture of what to do whenever you pick up the phone to call a prospect. Hopefully, you will use these tips to improve your cold calling skills and gain more merchants as clients. This approach may not create remarkable results immediately, but adopting a step-by-step process like this one will produce excellent long-term benefits.

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